BRITAIN’S leading anti-Brussels party yesterday lodged a formal complaint with election officials amid fears that the folding of some ballot papers could have cost it tens of thousands of votes.

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) claimed to have been “swamped” with calls from supporters who could not find it on the list.

In some cases the printing process was said to have left the lengthy ballot paper stuck shut, requiring voters to prise it open to reveal the UKIP entry, below the names of rival parties, because of its place in the alphabet.

The party threatened to demand a legal challenge and a re-run of the elections in some areas if the problem appears to have damaged its showing in a year when it hoped to capitalise from public disgust at the main parties over MPs’ expenses.